Comms toolkit

Slide 1: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 2: Prosper is an innovative, holistic model for postdoc career development

Slide 3: Designed for postdocs’ career development needs, Prosper…

Slide 4: Provides the tools, resources and space to further postdocs’ professional development

Slide 5: Enables postdocs to thrive across multiple career pathways

Slide 6: Unlocks the huge postdoc talent pool

Slide 7: Empowers Managers of Researchers to boost their postdocs’ career development

Slide 8: Provides institutions with a flexible and free approach to: developer their postdocs; meet their Researcher Development Concordat obligations, enhance their research culture

Slide 9: Prosper is freely available to Postdocs, Managers of Researchers, Higher Education and Research institutions across the UK

Slide 10: Prosper. Co-created with: postdocs, managers of researchers, the wider sector, employers.

Slide 11: Postdocs

Slide 12: Postdocs should help shape their own career development

Slide 13: Developed with 120+ postdocs that represent diversity across…

Slide 14: gender, ethnicity, and discipline

Slide 15: Managers of Researchers

Slide 16: No-one is better placed to create a positive culture and value career development

Slide 17: Content that is informed by: subject matter experts. PIs and Managers of Researchers, via the PI Network

Slide 18: Employers. Providing guidance on opportunities beyond academia

Slide 19: Insight from 100+ employers, large and small

Slide 20: Developer in close collaboration with the wider sector

Slide 21: to ensure it meets the needs of institutions

Slide 22: Piloted across University of Liverpool, The University of Manchester, Lancaster University

Slide 23: What Prosper offers for… Postdocs, Managers of Researcher, Institutions

Slide 24: Reflect. Tools and resources for figuring our what’s most important for your career.

Slide 25: What skills do I need? What are my strengths and priorities? What do I want from my career? What skills do I have? What are my goals and values?

Slide 26: Explore. Learn about opportunities and options open to postdocs

Slide 27: Content and insight from 100+ employers…

Slide 28: whether within academia or beyond. Academia, industry, government, academia-adjacent, policy, start a business, large multination, NGOs, charities, museums, SME, commerce

Slide 29: from sectors across 12 career clusters. Advance manufacturing and materials, creative and cultural industries, environment and energy, food and agriculture, government and non-profit, ICT and digital technology, health and care, higher education and publications, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, transport systems, environment and energy (sic: financial, business and professional services), start-ups and entrepreneurship

Slide 30: resources to enable you to survey your options, map your skills, and figure our your direction of travel.

Slide 31: Act. Practical resources to empower you to get where you’re going

Slide 32: Interview preparation, commercial communication, starting up your business, networking, advance CV creation and tailoring

Slide 33: Skills for your whole career, wherever it takes you.

Slide 34: Managers of Researchers

Slide 35: Resources to empower you to support your researchers’ career development

Slide 36: To create an open and diverse working environment

Slide 37: and get the most from your researchers

Slide 38: An ideal starting point for using the minimum annual 10 professional development days in the Researcher Development Concordat

Slide 39: Institutions

Slide 40: Guidance and material to use Prosper within your own organisation

Slide 41: A framework for driving best practice research culture built on Equality, Diversity, Inclusion

Slide 42: Flexible. Modular. Free.

Slide 43: Whatever your needs or budget. Prosper is designed to enhance your postdoc development offering. Whether running a full cohort, or simply filling a specific gap

Slide 44: Resources on: overcoming fear of failure, networking tips and tricks, intercultural communication, how to start a business, guides to government and policy roles, how to showcase your skills, transitioning to a new role, and much more…

Slide 45: Prosper is tried and tested

Slide 46: Our evaluation of our pilot cohort showed: improvements in confidence levels, increased awareness of career options beyond academia, increase in professional networking, many participants made the leap beyond academia

Slide 47: “Across almost every area of professional development, Prosper was transformative for me.”

Slide 48: “Prosper helped me get our of my comfort zone and make a clear decision about my next career move.”

Slide 49: “I felt very supported by Prosper – it was like I was building myself up again from scratch.”

Slide 50: Prosper has guaranteed support for a minimum of 10 years

Slide 51: Visit our portal and explore our resources. prosper.liverpool.ac.uk

Slide 52: Or get in touch with the Prosper team. prosper.liverpool.ac.uk
Email: prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk
Twitter: @ProsperPostdoc
LinkedIn: /company/prosperproject

Slide 53: Prosper is based in The Academy, at the University of Liverpool, in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. Prosper is funded by Research England.
liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

Slide 54: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential
liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

Slide 1: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 2: The Prosper Portal is a one-stop online hub for all your postdoc career development needs

Slide 3: A gateway to the Prosper model,

Slide 4: bringing together resources developed during our pilots,

Slide 5: our work with employers, Managers of Researchers, guidance for Institutions, and more…

Slide 6: Actively curated and updated by the Prosper team

Slide 7: Convenient to search and use

Slide 8: All free to access

Slide 9: For Postdocs

Slide 10: Co-created with 120+ postdocs from a broad range of disciplines across our pilots at the University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, and Lancaster University

Slide 11: Resources to support you at every stage of your career development journey

Slide 12: From reflecting on your current situation, figuring out your values, and preferences

Slide 13: through to exploring your options and learning about potential career pathways

Slide 14: to skills and advice for taking action, and making that next step

Slide 15: Plot your own personalised career path

Slide 16: Set goals, track your progress

Slide 17: Navigate career change and developments

Slide 18: Get tailored advice

Slide 19: Add your own notes

Slide 20: Record your thoughts, clarify ideas

Slide 21: Save and bookmark resources

Slide 22: For quick and easy access

Slide 23: Reflect. Tools and resources for figuring out who you are, and what your career goals are

Slide 24: For reflecting on your strengths, values, priorities and goals

Slide 25: For figuring out where you might want to go in your career

Slide 26: Whether taking stock of your career to date

Slide 27: learning about the paths other postdocs have taken

Slide 28: cultivating self-awareness

Slide 29: personality tests, and much more

Slide 30: Explore. Tools and resources that enable you to explore all the opportunities and options open to postdocs

Slide 31: A wealth of insight from 100+ employers

Slide 32: Content in 12 career clusters covering the breadth of the economy

Slide 33: First-hand advice and information from senior figures across a range of sectors

Slide 34: tools to help you map and translate your skills to employability

Slide 35: resources for developing skills that make you stand out to employers, and much more

Slide 36: Dr Gary Gates, Managing Director at Pearson VUE, and Prosper employer

You know, I, I think you shouldn’t be too narrow minded in terms of what opportunities there are out there and what you can do, and you don’t know until you’ve tried and just, you know, have a go. You know, if you look at my career, I, you know, I was in the nuclear industry. I took a step, I then moved out of that and went into completely different industry and it’s, it’s taken those, you know, and I took some risks.

Slide 37: Act. Practical resources to empower you to get where you’re going

Slide 38: And to keep on developing from there

Slide 39: From how to develop a skills-based CV

Slide 40: to de-mystifying recruitment processes

Slide 41: through to tips on handling new roles, career changes, and much more

Slide 42: Ashley Gluchoswki, Prosper Pilot Cohort Postdoc, University of Manchester

I had a mentee during the time of Prosper. I had directed her to the Prosper Portal and she actually got a, a job in industry using all of your materials.

Slide 43: For Managers of Researchers

Slide 44: Resources to empower you to aid your researchers’ career development

Slide 45: With content informed by Managers of Researchers in institutions across the UK

Slide 46: from simple steps you can take to support postdoc career development

Slide 47: to guidance on creating a positive working culture, and much more

Slide 48: Prof. Bhavik Anil Patel, Professor of Clinical stress and Bioanalytical Chemistry at the University of Brighton, and contributor to the Prosper PI Network

I think, um, you know, the postdoctoral journey is the most critical journey to, you know, a job and, and a career. And so at that point, um, I see it’s really critical to discuss career aspirations, to help shape that postdoc into a career or profession that they are really interested in going into. So

Slide 49: For Institutions. Guidance to enable you to use Prosper in a flexible, modular way within your own organisations

Slide 50: Workshopped and co-created with over 20 institutions

Slide 51: Designed to enhance your local postdoc offering

Slide 52: Whether you want to run your won version of our Prosper cohorts

Slide 53: Or want to develop a particular resource to meet a distinct need.

Slide 54: With a wide range of guidance and ready-made materials

Slide 55: To make your job easier, and help you enhance research culture within your own organisation

Slide 56: Join a thriving community of other institutions across the UK

Slide 57: to share feedback, best practice and learn what has worked elsewhere

Slide 58: Whatever your postdoc career development needs

Slide 59: Whether you’re a postdoc

Slide 60: A manager of postdocs

Slide 61: Research Staff and Organisational Developer

Slide 62: or a Higher Education Institution

Slide 63: The Prosper portal will have something for you

Slide 64: It is completely free to access and use

Slide 65: No login required – but you can sing-up for enhanced functionality

Slide 66: Supported, updated and curated by a committed team

Slide 67: With support guaranteed for 10+ years, ensuring continued relevance

Slide 68: Visit our portal and explore our resources prosper.liverpool.ac.uk
Email: prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk
Twitter: @ProsperPostdoc
LinkedIn: /company/prosperproject

Slide 69: Prosper is base in The Academy, at The University of Liverpool, in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. Prosper is funded by Research England.

Slide 70: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential
liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

We are at the Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel in Manchester for the Prosper Practice Exchange event, which is an opportunity for colleagues from across the sector who are utilizing the Prosper model to come along, share, practice, learn from each other, and collaborate.

We know that our postdocs are really neglected component part of our workforce, and so really having that emphasis on how we support their development, but how we do it in a way which removes the idea that a career out with academia is a failure.

One of the main benefits for us is around that it is there as a resource that people can tap into in their own space and, and in their own time.

Something that someone said really is that they like having that independence in terms of their own development, but also that it’s a reliable source of information for them to explore.

We also know from cohorts that, um, lots of the learnings done by talking to peers and having that wide group of individuals from across the region brings a lots of different perspectives and really gives ’em a sense of what’s unique to their institution and what might be actually something that’s common a across the sector.

So what’s great about it’s, we’re actually giving up our postdocs a regional network, which they may not have been exposed to before. The fact that we’re bringing them to each location and we get them to see what it’s like on each campus and get a sense for it, what that journey’s like, which can be really helpful when they think about their career and the locations that they could have that career in.
We have a huge number of talented staff who are often on, uh, very short programs of work, and so they are expending energy on trying to think about where their next job is coming from. This one accords value to their talent, but also equips them with career management skills, which they haven’t had before.

We’re running our second Prosper cohort program this spring, and I think the benefits of it is having that dedicated time and space to focus on your career development and also having that space to really think about your values, your skills, and how they can be further developed and aligned to your future career.
What’s been really interesting is here about how people who’ve used the resources and been through the cohorts of Prosper Researchers, they become kind of advocates for it and they spread the message so that you can build it up and develop it even further.

Prosper is one way that we saw that we could not only collaborate with other colleagues, but also really empower our postdocs and really change the dynamic about the value that we have.

And so it’s really coalescing around the development of a positive research culture and how we enable our postdocs to thrive and to flourish.

I think the benefits of it is having that dedicated time and space to focus on your career development and having that space to really think about your values, your skills, and how they can be further developed and aligned to your future career.

One of the main benefits for us is around that it’s there as a resource that people can tap into in their own space and, and in their own time.

David Ashmore. Um, I was a postdoc here in cohort one because I feel like there is, there’s a huge amount of talent within the, uh, postdoc, postdoc community. We, um, typically do feel overlooked. Um, when I was a postdoc, there was lots of resources for staff, permanent staff, and post-graduate researchers, and I felt that as a postdoc there was, um, uh, we felt like we were, yeah, underserviced in, in terms of career development. Um, and I was a member of, uh, cohort one, uh, who were sort of the Guinea pigs for the first set of, um, prosper Resources. And I feel quite privileged to be part of that, where we had the opportunity for coaching, um, to really reflect on what we wanted from our careers. And I think it was quite revelatory in many ways for a lot of the cohort, um, who never quite taken the time to take a step back, think about what we wanted, who we are, what our values were. Um, and I think in many ways that brought into focus a lot of things, um, about where we wanted to go afterwards. And importantly, how to get there.

So my name is Mike Tobin. I’m a senior scientific director at Bristol-Myers Squibb, which we can just about see over there, which is a large pharmaceutical company which does everything from tablets through to breakthrough therapies for cancer. Uh, and we’ve got  people close to this site, um, and can travel here all the time. Now, we always need domain experts, people that know how to do individual experiments and know specific, but generally you have to communicate that in almost all environments. You have to communicate that knowledge to somebody, be that close colleagues, be that stakeholders, the people that are funding your business. And so you need, in addition to your domain knowledge, some generic skills. And I think Prosper has been very good at building those generic skills in the people that have taken part. So we’ve been very enthusiastic about that. And long may it continue. I’ve been involved with Prosper Now I think since it, it began because as a potential employer of your, uh, colleagues that you’re working with, uh, we wanted to make sure that it would ultimately meet our needs and we could help shape that and be part of it. Uh, and so this is the first time we’ve had the chance for an in-person event, but it’s been great.

Okay. So, uh, my name’s Dr. Heather Sears. I’m head of research capability and development of Cory University. I was a member of the Prosper External Advisory Board and that’s why I’m here today to celebrate being a little tiny part of, just an immensely successful project. I think as we’ve heard today, um, and I was one of them as well, a postdoc myself, they’re the almost forgotten community. Well, not necessarily forgotten, but they are hard to deal with community. So we’ve always shied away from dealing with the issue of the postdocs. Cause it’s always easier to go and do somebody else. It’s always easier to go look at postgraduate research students than it is to go and look at our postdocs. One of the privileges of being part of the Prosper Extend Advisory Board, and believe me, I, I’ve been on boards, I’ve been members of boards, I’ve tried to run boards, is that we have always been listened to. And it has been a privilege to go through the materials and see that our suggestions have been taken on board. And that’s been a, a really genuinely rewarding part of being part of this project. So thank you very much. Prosper.

Prosper was a first of its kind project. Very, very important, very impressive, innovative. It’s going to be highly influential to the sector. It fits very directly in the government science and technology framework. And the team here have only just learned that UKRI is going to be providing another 450,000 pounds for the next three year for Prosper to roll out the model across the UK.

When I saw an advert for the Prosper Career Development Programme, I remember thinking finally something for postdocs. Prosper was a transformative experience. I engage with all the Prosper resources. After all that learning, reflection, and action on my behalf, I am now working outside of academia as a medical science liaison in for a French pharmaceutical company. I attribute all my success to the Prosper Programme.

Prosper is ideal for us because you get people with that deep domain expertise that we need.

One thing that I’ve learned is around setting boundaries. What works for postdocs? What do they need? What do I need?

We all need that time to step away from what we do, a slide and think about what next, what you are good at, and I think that’s where Prosper helped me a lot. That made me realize one thing: change is the only constant. I’m in a stage now where I don’t go and see for job, where rather I see recruiters contacting me.

Prosper was a first of its kind project. It’s going to be highly influential. Its fits very directly in the government’s science and technology framework, and UKRI is providing another 450,000 pounds for Prosper to roll out the model across the UK. Prosper was a transformative experience. I attribute all my success to the Prosper programme.

Prosper is ideal for us because you get people with
that deep domain expertise that we need.

One thing that I’ve learned is around setting boundaries,
what works for postdocs, what do they need, what do I need?

Prosper was a transformative experience.

I attribute all my success to the Prosper programme.

We all need the time to think about “What next, what am I good at?”

And that’s where Prosper helped me a lot.

Slide 1: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 2: Reflect. Self-awareness is an essential component of career development

Slide 3: Reflect. Knowing your strengths and values is crucial to making informed choices and charting a fulfilling career

Slide 4: Dr. Revathy Krishnamurthi. Biomedical and Biological Sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

What Prosper taught me was, reflect back on your ideas every now and then. As and when you’re identifying your gaps, and then refilling it your perspective should change.

Slide 5: The Prosper portal contains a range of resources to help you identify your skills and values, and understand what you want from your career

Slide 6: Visit our Reflect section to:

Slide 7: Conduct a career audit

Slide 8: Figure out what career pathways might suit you

Slide 9: Identify your skills and skill gaps

Slide 10: Improve your self-confidence

Slide 11: Learn how to overcome barriers to success

Slide 12: Explore. Knowing the full breath of your options is important when making informed career decisions

Slide 13: Explore. A better understanding of sectors, values skills, roles and opportunities can make all the difference

Slide 14: Dr. Efthymios Gavriil. Biomedical and Biological Sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

I think Prosper motivated me to get in touch with people I knew already And try to discuss with them, how is, you know,  their everyday life in the company and understand if it’s something, that I would like to do or not.

Slide 15: The Prosper portal contains a wealth of information to help you discover more about the full range of opportunities and possibilities open to postdocs today

Slide 16: Visit our Explore section to:

Slide 17: Explore direct insights from employers in our career clusters: Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, Creative and Cultural Industries, Environment and Energy, Food and Agriculture, Government and Non-profit, ICT and Digital Technology, Health and Care, Higher Education and Publishing, Life Scienced and Pharmaceuticals, Trasport Systems, Financial Business and Professional services, Start-ups and Entrepreneurship

Slide 18: Learn first-hand about the routes other postdocs have taken

Slide 19: Develop in-demand skills, such as communication, creativity and leadership

Slide 20: Hone your networking skills

Slide 21: Act. Taking the next step in your career development can involve seeking opportunities to grow in your current role, or navigating an unfamiliar recruitment process

Slide 22: Dr Christina Picken. Physical and Environmental Sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

So, there’s been lots of practical advice and useful ways to think about things such as LinkedIn, your CV and interview techniques and prep that have been really useful and directly applicable.

Slide 23: The Prosper portal offers a range of practical resources to empower you to take that next career step

Slide 24: Visit our Act section to:

Slide 25: Learn how to effectively showcase your skills and tailor them to roles

Slide 26: Grow in your role and drive your continuous development

Slide 27: Demystify recruitment processes and improve your interview and negotiation skills

Slide 28: Discover the essentials of setting up your own business

Slide 29: Dr Ashley Gluchoswki, Biomedical and Biological Sciences, Prosper pilot postdoc

I had a mentee during the time of Prosper. I had directed her to the Prosper Portal and she actually got a, a job in industry using all of your materials.

Slide 30: Prosper id free for postdocs, managers of researchers, and institutions to use

Slide 31:  Visit our portal and explore our resources

prosper.liverpool.ac.uk

Email: prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk

Twitter: @ProsperPostdoc

LinkedIn: /company/prosperproject

Slide 32: Prosper is based in The Academy, at The University of Liverpool, in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. Prosper is funded by Research England.

liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

Slide 70: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

prosper.liverpool.ac.uk

Slide 1: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 2: Reflect. Self-awareness is an essential component of career development

Slide 3:  Reflect. Knowing your strengths and values is crucial to making informed career choices and charting a fulfilling career

Slide 4: Dr. Pablo Fernandez. Biomedical and Biological sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

I have a much clearer ideas of what the options are, how to approach them and also I have reflected on my values.

Slide 5: The Prosper portal contains a range of resources to help you identify your skills and values, and understand what you want from your career

Slide 6: Visit our Reflect section to:

Slide 7: Conduct a career audit

Slide 8: Figure out what career pathways might suit you

Slide 9: Identify your skills and skill gaps

Slide 10: Improve your self-confidence

Slide 11: Learn how to overcome barriers to success

Slide 12: Explore. Knowing the full breath of your options is important when making informed career decisions

Slide 13: Explore. A better understanding of sectors, values skills, roles and opportunities can make all the difference

Slide 14: Dr. Alejandra Zarate-Potes. Biomedical and Biological Sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

The career clusters have been very useful. Although I did go back to my usual suspects, but it has helped me find a lot of individual industries I didn’t know existed within Life Sciences.

Slide 15: The Prosper portal contains a wealth of information to help you discover more about the full range of opportunities and possibilities open to postdocs today

Slide 16: Visit our Explore section to:

Slide 17: Explore direct insights from employers in our career clusters: Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, Creative and Cultural Industries, Environment and Energy, Food and Agriculture, Government and Non-profit, ICT and Digital Technology, Health and Care, Higher Education and Publishing, Life Scienced and Pharmaceuticals, Trasport Systems, Financial Business and Professional services, Start-ups and Entrepreneurship

Slide 18: Learn first-hand about the routes other postdocs have taken

Slide 19: Develop in-demand skills, such as communication, creativity and leadership

Slide 20: Hone your networking skills

Slide 21: Act. Taking the next step in your career development can involve seeking opportunities to grow in your current role, or navigating an unfamiliar recruitment process

Slide 22: D. Revathy Krishnamurthi. Biomedical and Biological Sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

Based on the learnings from Prosper, I have remodified my CVs the way I should write CV for getting the career outside of academia and that’s working brilliantly. I know this because I’ve started getting calls already from people.

Slide 23: The Prosper portal offers a range of practical resources to empower you to take that next career step

Slide 24: Visit our Act section to:

Slide 25: Learn how to effectively showcase your skills and tailor them to roles

Slide 26: Grow in your role and drive your continuous development

Slide 27: Demystify recruitment processes and improve your interview and negotiation skills

Slide 28: Discover the essentials of setting up your own business

Slide 29: Dr. Lynsey Warwick-Giles. Arts, Humanities and Social sciences. Prosper pilot postdoc

Prosper has been very enlightening in the sense that actually, look at your academic skills but what do they mean elsewhere?

Slide 30: Prosper id free for postdocs, managers of researchers, and institutions to use

Slide 31:  Visit our portal and explore our resources

prosper.liverpool.ac.uk

Email: prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk

Twitter: @ProsperPostdoc

LinkedIn: /company/prosperproject

Slide 32: Prosper is based in The Academy, at The University of Liverpool, in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. Prosper is funded by Research England.

liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

Slide 70: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

prosper.liverpool.ac.uk

Slide 1: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 2: Prosper is a new approach to career development…

Slide 3: …that unlocks postdocs’ potential to thrive.

Slide 4: We’re challenging the norms that currently define postdoc success.

Slide 5: Our aim is to roll out our new approach to the wider Higher Education sector in 2021.

Slide 6: Our approach benefits
postdocs
principal investigators
employers

Slide 7: and the wider UK economy.

Slide 8: We’re working to address traditional barriers to access

Slide 9: and creating career development that is open…

Slide 10: …to everyone

Slide 11: Our first cohort at the University of Liverpool

Slide 12: Joined April 2021

Slide 13: 53 postdocs

Slide 14: 62% Biomedical and Biological Sciences, 28% Physical & Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 10% Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Slide 15: 43% Male, 55% Female, 2% Non-binary

Slide 16: 74% White, 26% BAME

Slide 17: Our pilot year in review

Slide 18: Reflect. Fostering a better understanding of yourself, your values and your strengths

Slide 19: Development and recognition of employability skills

Slide 20: 38 Commissioned, 60 Prosper-led sessions

Slide 21: Communication

Slide 22: Creativity

Slide 23: Leadership

Slide 24: Explore key topics. Identity, self-assessment, self-confidence, storytelling, presentational skills, negotiating and influencing

Slide 25: Working with career coaches

Slide 26: 5 coaches, 90 hours of group sessions, 198.5 hours of 1 to 1 sessions

Slide 27: “The number one outcomes for me so far is definitely the clarity and direction I’ve gained.

Slide 28: The reflection exercises, numerous discussions, and research I’ve done as part of Prosper have helped me make up my mind so I no longer doubt myself. And that is a powerful feeling.” Cohort member

Slide 29: “The sessions made me realise my real potential.” Cohort member

Slide 30: “Being able to talk through my thoughts with my coach and my group has been immensely useful and its really helped me feel more confident with my future career and how I might see it changing.” Cohort member

Slide 31: Explore & Act. Working with employers to increase employability and broaden career horizons

Slide 32: “The Environment Agency is always looking to innovate and attract the best talent. We’re working with Prosper as we recognise that postdocs represent a great potential talent pool for our organisation and the broader environment sector.” Andy Turner, The Environment Agency

Slide 33: 12 diverse Career Clusters, co-created with 80 employers, via 1 to 1 consultations and workshops

Slide 34: Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, Creative and Cultural Industries, Environment and Energy, Food and Agriculture, Government and Non-profit, ICT and Digital Technology

Slide 35: Health and Care, Higher Education and Publishing, Life Scienced and Pharmaceuticals, Trasport Systems, Financial Business and Professional services, Start-ups and Entrepreneurship

Slide 36: Career Cluster resources created: 25 video interviews recorded with 24 employers

Slide 37: Resources on research tups, networking and informational interviews. Interactive employer panel sessions and 11 ‘Fireside Chats’

Slide 38: “The career clusters resources provided answers to: What is the structure of an organisation? What is the day to day? What are the skills that are valued?

Slide 39: Being able to hear that helped me discern what really doesn’t work for me and what might work for me more. I feel like I have a much better idea of what life in industry is like.” Cohort member

Slide 40: Learn about working beyond academia

Slide 41: “Be brave. Ask people, phone them up, cold call them. You would be amazed at how much time people are willing to give you if you show an interest.” Dr Georgina Key, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

Slide 42: Smitha Maretvadakethope, Prosper Cohort 1 Member

I went to a workshop at the end of last year and there at the workshop I met someone from industry, and then we got talking, and in the end the person from industry actually got involved with the Prosper pilot. This is not something I would have even thought about doing before, Prosper.

Slide 43: Gaining greater confidence and taking action

Slide 44: Priyanka Raina, Prosper Cohort 1 Member

But I think in the Prosper programme, that was the best thing I think I learned. I have to face my fears. I have to take a risk and see what happens. Well, nobody’s going to kill me if I come back, but I have to take risks, I have to see the difference, what it makes, and I think that… Especially me, I don’t have any… I never had very high confidence levels. So I was always not sure whether it’s good or not, but I think Prosper, in total, helped me, gave me that confidence that I can do it, I should do it, let’s see what happens, and I think it worked for me pretty well.

Slide 45: “Sometimes opportunities fall into your lap and sometimes you need to go out and make them. Ask yourself ‘Where would I like to go?’ and ‘What will they be after?’” Dr Andy Walsh, GlaxoSmithKline

Slide 46: Creating resources and support sessions to focus on recruitment processes and requirements

Slide 47: Gary Gates, Senior Vide President and Managing Director, Pearson VUE

I think you shouldn’t be too narrow-minded in terms of what opportunities there are out there and what you can do, and you don’t know until you’ve tried and just have a go. If you look at my career, I was in the nuclear industry, I took a step, I then moved out of that and went into a completely different industry, and it’s taking those… You know, and I took some risks.

Slide 48: Supporting employability skills, wherever your career takes you. Starting up a business. Networking and LinkedIn. Advanced CV creation. Skills for the future

Slide 49: I think Prosper is a worthwhile journey. I definitely think it’s a worthwhile journey for postdocs to undergo, because it’s not just about the resources through self-assessment or value assessment and things like the career clusters themselves, but also the other insights from all the other things such as learning more  about leadership, learning more about entrepreneurship, learning more about so many different aspects. It’s more of a holistic journey than just an individual. This is a career, let me look into that by shadowing someone. I think that having something so broad helps you to open up, helps you to reflect more and helps you to understand that you’re not as boxed in as you think you are.

Slide 50: This is not the end

Slide 51: Wherever you are in your career development journey, we hope we have helped you with Prosper.

Slide 52: Make sure you… Continue to access the Prosper portal and provide feedback

Slide 53: Keep in touch: LinkedIn @Prosper. Twitter @ProsperPostdoc

Slide 54: Spread the word about your experience. Keep in touch about your onward journey
Liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper

Slide 55: Prosper is based in The Academy, at The University of Liverpool, in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. Prosper is funded by Research England.

liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

Slide 56: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 1: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential

Slide 2: Prosper is a new approach to postdoc career development

Slide 3: A holistic model that unlocks postdocs’ potential to thrive across multiple career pathways, both within and beyond academia

Slide 4: Our aim is to open up the huge talent pool within the UK’s postdoctoral community – to the benefit of postdocs, principal investigators, research institutions, employers and wider society

Slide 5: Tried and tested Prosper will be freely available to the whole of the UK from summer 2023

Slide 6: Our second Prosper cohort. Building on the success of our first pilot at the University of Liverpool, Prosper ran a second cohort…

Slide 7: Joined February 2022

Slide 8: 75 postdocs from across our 3 partner institutions

Slide 9: 41 from University of Manchester, 18 from University of Liverpool, 16 from Lancaster University

Slide 10: 27% from the Physical & Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 50% from the Biomedical and Biological Sciences, 23% from the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Slide 11: 36% Male, 64% Female

Slide 12: 67% White, 32% BAME, 1% Undeclared

Slide 13: 73 Prosper-led sessions and events, 24 Commissioned sessions

Slide 14: Our second year in review

Slide 15: Reflect. Guided self-reflection, fostering a better understanding of yourself, your strengths, skills, values and goals

Slide 16: Development and recognition of employability skills

Slide 17: Communication

Slide 18: Creativity

Slide 19: Leadership

Slide 20: Covering key topics. Identity, self-assessment, self-confidence, storytelling, presentational skills, negotiating and influencing

Slide 21: A chance to reflect on what truly drives you, and what you want from your career

Slide 22: Alejandra Zarate-Potes, Prosper Cohort 2 Member, Lancaster University

So, I’ve learned many different things from Prosper. I think one of – I guess it’s kind of obvious, but everything with the reflection and the journaling. So just, as I said, I was very applied into studying and just following the next master, the next project, the next grant, and not thinking of myself and where do I want to be, or what do I want to do? Just the reflection of what I want to do, what I feel happy with. Where do I see myself in five years, in ten years?

Slide 23: And an opportunity to gain confidence and improve your ability to tell your own story

Slide 24: Esmeralda Bon, Prosper Cohort 2 Member, University of Manchester

  Prosper has been really good in raising my confidence. So being proactive and taking the step to reach out to people, again the networking, informational interviews. That is leadership and that is having confidence. I think that Prosper is pushing people towards doing those things.

Slide 25: Explore. Learning about the myriad of career options open to postdocs, and the many opportunities, roles and organisations beyond academia

Slide 26: “Postdocs come with a great many more skills and are fast learners. Usually, they have a lot of initiative and have the ability to just run with things.” Kate Whelan, Chief Operating Officer, Notch Communications

Slide 27: Co-created with 100+ employers to broaden career horizons. A wealth of information across 12 career clusters

Slide 28: Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, Creative and Cultural Industries, Environment and Energy, Food and Agriculture, Government and Non-profit, ICT and Digital Technology

Slide 29: Health and Care, Higher Education and Publishing, Life Scienced and Pharmaceuticals, Trasport Systems, Financial Business and Professional services, Start-ups and Entrepreneurship

Slide 30: Career cluster resources included: 29 video interviews with 27 employers, 4 employer panel sessions

Slide 31: 2 interactive employer workshops, 11 ‘Fireside Chats’. Resources on research tips, networking and informational interviews

Slide 32: Lenka Stejskal, Prosper Cohort 2 Member, University of Manchester

The only thing outside of academia that I was aware before I joined Prosper was industry. My massive benefit was just to see how wide your options actually are. That was really good. I actually ended up applying for civil service jobs, and I’m starting next month.

Slide 33: “While hard and soft skills are important or making the transition from academia to industry, I have found that developing a mindset of growth and flexibility and innovation are even more crucial.” David Amienyo, Senior Sustainability Consultant, Sphera Solutions

Slide 33: Act. Practical advice and skills development for understanding recruitment processes and taking action

Slide 34: Skills for your whole career, wherever it takes you… Mock interview practice, commercial communication, starting up a business, networking and LinkedIn, advanced CV creation and tailoring

Slide 35: Innocent Asiimwe, Prosper Cohort 2 Member, University of Liverpool

Several resources which have been very helpful. I know what to do. I know how to increase my competitiveness.

Slide 36: Efthymios-Spyridon Gavriil, Prosper Cohort 2 Member, University of Manchester

These discussions, these resources and the discussions we had in our group sessions, in my one-to-one with Hannah, helped me a lot to understand how I need to prepare my CV, how I need to focus on some parts of it. I realised that, okay, I might have a CV of five pages, six pages, listing all my skills, but these skills get lost.

Slide 37: Coaching & community. All tied together by a supportive community of fellow postdocs

Slide 38: With a busy scheme, social events, and coaching…

Slide 39: 5 coaches, 118 hours of group sessions, 59 hours of 1-to-1 sessions

Slide 40: Christina Picken, Cohort 2 Member, University of Manchester

Because we are a close-knit cohort, particularly with the coaching groups, we have quite a strong supportive environment that we’ve created. Having those conversations about what we really want to do with our lives, and why, and what we’ve learned with the other cohort members has been really invaluable actually.

Slide 41: This is not the end.

Slide 42: Wherever you are in your career development journey, we hope we have helped you Prosper

Slide 43: Prosper will be launching to the whole of the UK in Summer 2024

Slide 44: All the resources and materials from our pilot cohorts will be part and parcel of the Prosper approach and portal – freely available to the whole sector

Slide 45: This wouldn’t have been possible without your engagement and feedback. Thank you – you have played a crucial role in helping postdocs across the nation

Slide 46: Please continue to access the Prosper portal and provide vital feedback

Slide 47: Make sure you stay in touch – we’d love to know where your journey takes you

Keep in touch: LinkedIn @Prosper. Twitter @ProsperPostdoc

Slide 48: Spread the word about your experience, and best wishes for your onward journey
liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper

Slide 49: Prosper is based in The Academy, at The University of Liverpool, in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. Prosper is funded by Research England.

liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/

Slide 56: Prosper. Unlocking postdoc career potential
liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/